Chapter 27 She Remembers

She was counting the days that she had last seen her period when she suddenly paused, feeling the dull cramp in her abdomen. Sure enough, her period had started, although it was two weeks later.
Zhan Peng looked away, like he had seen a ghost. Surely men did not understand the pain of women, she lamented in her mind.
She didn’t have clothes and she could only make do with some old cloth from a large flag that they found in the cave, to wrap herself up in her inconvenience. Now, it was like havoc had struck, because the most painful days of the month were here.
Fortunately, she was one of those women who didn’t have very regular cycles. She would often get herbal prescriptions from the female physician to make herself feel better, but then the lady would tell her ‌she had to be prepared to accept the fact that her fertility had some imbalances. The lady gave her blessings that one day, as time went by, her cycles would straighten out and she would eventually recover her fertility.
Right now, it was more of a relief than a curse to her. She was terrified because she and Zhan Peng didn’t take precautions, but now she realised it was nothing to be worried about.
In the future, she could try a natural herbal remedy for contraception.
She heard footsteps, and Zhan Peng moved towards her. He had just finished collecting berries and fruits for their consumption. “Yuxi, I have a secret that I wish to reveal to you.”
“What is it?”
“You have to trust me.”
“I trust you. Get on with it. I don’t enjoy waiting.”
“Just my Yuxi.” He stroked her on her head, giving her goosebumps with his words. “Well, I am not from here.”
The truth hit her, making her think of the prophecy. No, that couldn’t be… he couldn’t be him.
She chugged her breath, trying not to panic.
“And where are you from?”
“Longsu. It’s far away from Shang-Yi.”
“How did you ever?”
“Yang Tian and I sailed down in a boat from Longsu.”
“But nobody has ever managed to…”
“We did. We followed all the ‌routes that no other person has succeeded before, but attempted. We didn’t know how, but there wasn’t a single dark cloud or fierce wind in sight. We arrived there before we knew it.”
“But it’s… impossible..”
She stopped as she realised what it meant. There couldn’t be any other person but him and Yang Tian, who the prophecy told. The truth was there before her eyes.
Du Hui appointed her as the guard of the mission for that exact reason. Because she was someone special. Not because she was the daughter of his subject. Not because of their childhood relations. Because she was she. It was all planned. He must have known about it long ago.
He must have been in cahoots with Shaman Li, she decided.
“There’s another thing I wish to tell you about me, Yuxi.” He sounded grave. She headed towards him and threw herself into his arms in an embrace.
“We’ve come to this. Even if I don’t bear you a child, we are already together.”
“I know, Yuxi. But I’m not capable of a child. This is not what I wished to tell you, but something more about who I am. The imperial physician diagnosed my condition. He said that with time and enough herbal remedies, I should eventually show some improvement. But it’ll take a long time.”
She looked at him with awe as he told her about his identity in Longsu.
“Aren’t you disappointed, Yuxi? I even have women I don’t even want to care about, but I had no power to say no..”
“Sometimes, we can’t choose what or who we want to be,” she stated audibly. “I ‌have this problem. There are times that I feel I’m someone else, and I just woke up and I’m Qian Yuxi.”
“What do you mean, Yuxi?”
“I once thought I was Qian Xin, but I am Qian Yuxi, and somehow, a lot of childhood memories in my head belong to Qian Xin. While I can’t remember Qian Yuxi’s childhood.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t have to,” she replied calmly. They were in the cave for almost two weeks now, recuperating. They got back their strength slowly, but long-distance travel would be a problem until they were fully recovered.
“I accept who you are, Zhan Peng, and I hope you can accept who I am.”
He nodded. “I want you, Qian Yuxi. I love everything about you.”
She blushed. “Has anyone told you how much of an amorous prince and smooth talker you are, Zhan Peng? If I was your concubine, I would seriously get annoyed by you!”
“That’s what Di Pao says. I bet she’s happy that I am no longer in the palace.”
Yuxi felt a tinge of jealousy when Zhan Peng mentioned Di Pao. Just as possessive as he was, she was a jealous person and couldn’t bear the thoughts of him having another woman in his heart.
“You don’t understand, Yuxi. She and I were forced to be with each other by our parents. We didn’t have a choice.”
Yet, you used her to satisfy your needs; she ranted in her mind. She curled her lips in silent anger. Zhan Peng hugged her tightly from behind.
“I promise you, Yuxi, I’ll never forsake you. You’re all I wanted. From the first day I set my eyes upon you on the island. Why don’t you trust me that we are destined?”
She closed her eyes and tried to remember how they had met. What originally was hazy was now solidifying in her mind.
Nine months before the trip, she had come across a plump chicken, which he got first. They fought, but he laughed and let her have it. She didn’t recognise him nor remember his face, but the attitude of the man then reminded her strongly of Zhan Peng.
It was six months later that she had insanely taken on the mission to capture a molester and offender that she met him again. Again, she hadn’t paid attention to his looks, just that he came for the bounty prize for capturing the rapist alive, and he irritated her. She wanted to keep credit for capturing the villain.
She was that close to losing her virginity to the rapist. He held her at his arm’s bay and shoved the concoction down her mouth, forcing her to swallow. He said he enjoyed torturing his victims that way, so they would beg him for a quick release. He would rape them hard, letting them bleed so that they stained the white sheets under them, and he would keep the stained sheets for his collection.
Each victim that lost their virginity to him became a plaything for him to enjoy as much as he could before he got bored with them and released them. She detested how he had driven those girls either to suicide or they got pregnant and had to bear the embarrassment of having a child out of wedlock.
She wasn’t ready for that to happen to her, but as strong as she was, she was vulnerable to the drugs he had made her drink. It drove her to insanity and just when she thought it was the end; she heard some noises outside that distracted the villain and saved her.
Zhan Peng entered and found her tied to the bed. He released her from her bonds immediately, but she was in turmoil.
There was no other choice. They spent the night together, and she let him take her innocence, staining the sheets with proof of her virginity and the mixture of their fluids. After she was back to her normal self, she asked him for his name.
“Zhan Peng,” he answered without further thought.
“I’ll give you a hundred pieces of silver as payment for helping me out of this situation,” she replied.
He immobilised her with a tap of his fingers. “Just rest here.” Then he left the room.
The next morning, he hadn’t expected that she would try to fight that impossible target on her own, after losing to him once and getting drugged by him. The villain could kill her easily, so he came to her aid.
She seemed furious when he defeated the criminal and brought him to justice, and that it was not her. He received the bounty money, and pulling her out of her hiding place, he threw half of the prize at her.
She remembered what she had said that made him so angry, and she regretted how she treated him then.
…………………………………………………………………..
“So, you ‌remember the past now?” He understood it from her explanation.
“Yes. I don’t know why I couldn’t remember earlier, but this is absurd.”
He took her hand and lifted it to his face.
“Yuxi, after this mission is over, can I ask for something from you?”
“What is it?”
“Be me, Zhan Peng’s wife.”
She blushed hard. “What are you saying? You have many wives.”
“I have concubines, not wives. And I want you to be my only wife. Not the prince, but Zhan Peng’s.”
It made her blush even harder, and she dashed to the corner of the cave to hide her embarrassment.